Bassist Kevin Dawkins blown away by public recognition

ALBANY — When Cut N Run bassist and area music scene fixture Kevin Dawkins found out he had been chosen as Albany’s favorite Bass player in the recent Friday JAM music poll, he was overwhelmed that his lifelong passion had made such an impact on local fans and music lovers.

“I was really humbled,” said Dawkins during a recent interview. “I didn’t even know this was going on until my wife asked if I had seen this poll thing. I looked at it and was blown away.”

Even though he is proud to have earned the top spot in the music poll, he is quick to point out that his winning has more to do with the visibility of playing in a regularly gigging band than because of his prowess with his instrument.

“It just goes to show that for playing out all the time, people voted for me because I’m their friend and they like me,” said Dawkins. “I’m not the greatest bass player or anything. I can hold my own, but I ain’t nothing special. In fact, the only way I could take it really without cringing is that this thing is a popularity contest. I would rather it be about that than I’m the best bass player, because I know I’m not the best bass player.”

As it turns out, Dawkins cast his vote for another bass player in the poll, one who came up in the music scene during the same time as Dawkins. Steve Patton, who has earned notoriety as the bassist for Ancient Harmony, has long been a fixture both locally and regionally.

“When the polls came out, I was wondering, ‘Does anybody know that Steve Patton is on the voting list?’” said Dawkins. “He’s a monster, man!”

Talking about Patton actually took Dawkins back to his roots as a young player in Albany, when he first made the decision at 18 to handle the low end.

“Honestly and truly, (area musicians) Shell Stamps and Mick Cancellor, I was hanging out with them, they were like 16 and Shell was so good,” Dawkins recalled. “He’d be back in his room playing like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath and all that, and I was like, ‘Whoa, dude, look at this cat!’ He was so good. Mike Cancellor lived right around the corner, and so they got together and I was like, ‘They need a bass player.’ So I went and got a bass and before I could learn it they went and got Steve Patton. I was like, ‘Dammit man! Well, I’m stuck with this bass, I might as well learn it.’”

Switching to bass turned out to be a good thing for Dawkins, though, as it afforded him the opportunity to play with long-time friend and guitarist Kenny Spivey, who remains his musical partner in crime to this day. The two form the guitar section of Albany’s Cut N Run.

“I think without playing with Kenny, I wouldn’t be playing,” said Dawkins. “We’ve just been through so much together.”

One thing they weren’t together for, though, was Dawkins’ early years when he first fell in love with his mother’s record collection. That collection would serve as the foundation of his musical life.

“My mom had a great collection,” said Dawkins. “She had things like the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ that I didn’t really appreciate at first. I remember as a little kid I asked her if I could have her album collection and she said, ‘Yeah.’ My best friend and I, we went out in the yard a couple of days later and were just throwing them over the house. I swear to God, I remember throwing the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ across the house into the backyard to see how far it would fly. My next-door neighbor was in high school and he came over and was like, ‘Kevin, man, what are you doing!?’ Man, I was killing what I like to listen to!”

That carelessness toward music changed quickly, however, when, at age 12, Dawkins’ mother bought an acoustic guitar for all of her kids to share. Dawkins said he instantly fell in love and just a few years later had a guitar of his own that he bought with his own money.

“I’ve had the bug ever since I was a little kid,” he said. “My mom was a waitress, she worked double shifts and stuff, and I got my first guitar when I was 12. My mom got me a Yamaha and then, of course, I had to share it with my brothers and sisters. I grew up in Washington state and when I was 15 I went to work doing Christmas trees for the whole Christmas season.

“I was out in the snow, whacking them down, pulling them to the side to the binder, loading them in the semi. I worked my ass off. I went and got me a little Backstage Peavy amp, a Takamine electric guitar, and I’d sit up in my room and drive everybody crazy, like I was Hendrix. I’d turn it wide open, have all this screaming feedback, just loving it. Those were good times, man!”

Those good times have continued throughout Dawkins’ life, and through hard work and dedication he still gets to spend a lot of his time playing and emulating some of his favorite players like the Who’s John Entwhistle, Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee of Rush, and countless others.

“I like any of the bad boys out there, Geezer, Entwhistle,” said Dawkins. “I love Iron Maiden, I’ve seen them a few times. Steve Harris is the man. And you can’t forget Paul McCartney. I could go on and on about my favorite bass players. James Dewar, who played with Robin Trower. Of course, John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin fame), you can’t leave him out. All the rock-god bass players are my influences.”

As much as he loves talking about his musical heroes and what inspired him to play music, what Dawkins really loves is getting out on stage and entertaining people with a variety of covers and original music.

“I want to thank The Herald for doing this and all the bars for letting us play, and my family, but especially the fans, man,” he said. “It’s the people who come to see us play all the time. I hug their necks and say, ‘Thank you so much for coming to see us!’ It sucks playing to four walls and concrete. The fans are everything.”